mschonher

If it looks like I have kidnapped your photo I'm sorry. I got to working on it last night and couldn't stop myself. I haven't worked on the mouth yet so it looks rough. I cleaned up what I had already one in the first post and then gave him a "do" per Hannie's request, so it's all her fault.

I posted the beginnings of one I started to color using the Primary Coloring method. You can find a great tut at Worth 1000. I hope this helps get this little boy home a little faster.

This looks beautiful! You didn't kidnap the little boy; you just took him home for a cleanup and a good time. I think it is interesting to see how everyone approached this photo. What I thought was a good way to start, ended up causing me some problems later on down the line. Thanks for the reference to Worth 1000.

klassylady25

The hardest part is duplicating the texture - one way or the other. Wonder if there is a way to do that? Can a transparent texture be made so that it can mimick let's say the courser texture. Do you unerstand the question?

mschonher

I think I've posted before about film grain and you might have missed it. I usually do this at the very end after all the repairs are done.

Dupe image in the layers palette. Go to filter> Grain> choose enlarged grain, about 10% or a little lower, no contrast. Click ok and when you're back on screen choose layers, hide all mask. You can then add it where it's needed. If you need it all over then don't add the mask. You can adjust this with the slider.

When I need the film grain but also a bit of smoothing I'll add to the duped layer a small dust and scratches filter, then a small gausian blur and then the grain. This will be all on the same duped layer. I then apply the hide all mask and brush carefully over the areas that need it. Use a delicate touch with this method.

Is this what you were asking?

Mary

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klassylady25

Mary, it's the hide all that I forgot about. And yes, that's what I was asking about. Sometimes the picture warrents, to me, that the back ground not be as smooth as the subject. But that's primarily because of the soldiers that I've worked on. There is something, and I don't have the words, that if the paper is smoothed out to much it looks overdone. Hope I've made sense.

Thanks for the reminder, Hugs, C

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mschonher

Candy, the photo should have the same amount of film grain throughout, so you can apply it wherever it is too smooth. It also helps blend in any painted areas that are too smooth. I also make my own grain for skin with a starry dust brush #400. I always do this on new layers, one layer for the lights, one for medium/middle tones and one for darks. I set the opacity low and almost always need to use the gausian blur filter. I love those brushes and you can get them free on line. Just google in brushes, photoshop, starry dust.

You did a fantastic job restoring the boy's head. I would like to learn your painting techniques when I have time.

Margie, I was not kidnapped but they did keep me very busy. I finished my last OPR restoration three weeks ago then my coworker gave me a dozen of original vintage prints to scan and restore. These photos were from USS Missouri on September 2nd, 1945, the signing of the Japanese surrender instrument. I had a few days break from work last week but I squandered many hours watching Democratic convention. There will be more hours squandered next week watching Republican convention. I am still working on two OPR restorations, one is quit close to finish. The nice thing about the new technology this year is that I have been watching convention by streaming video on the computer while I was working on restoration and some other tasks at the same time.

Mary, he looks great! His face looks so nice cleaned up and I love the background as it doesn't compete for attention with the boy anymore. One question, I know that you said the right side needs work--his right? Is the reason the left looks blown out, because of having to desaturate so much to get rid of the ugly mud?

By the way, the owner of the Lotz photo said to tell you, Kiska and Hannie, a big thank you. It was a quick thank you by email before he left town to get out of the Gustav's path.

Mary, you have done an amazing job on our little boy! Thank you also for all the great tips and instructions. I wish I had a little more time to go through some of those and try them. I have a long bookmark list of tips and tuts to work on but just never seem to get to it!

Margie, that was nice to hear from the Lotz family, thanks for sharing!How about a vignette to cover up the left side of our project?